Lil Uzi Vert turned a scrapped festival set into a celebration on Friday (July 31), surprising fans with a new EP on their 31st birthday hours after a last-minute Lollapalooza cancellation.

The eight-track project, Maverick “Almost Forever,” is the Philadelphia rapper’s first release in two years, and arrives with cover art depicting a young Uzi alongside their grandmother.

The drop landed on a date with history in Uzi’s catalogue: exactly a decade earlier, on July 31, 2016, they released The Perfect LUV Tape, which debuted at No. 55 on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified gold by the RIAA. Uzi had teased new material as recently as mid-July, sharing an Instagram Story showing work on a studio project.

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The release followed the abrupt cancellation of Uzi’s Lollapalooza set at Grant Park in Chicago, where they had been slated to perform Friday evening ahead of headliner Charli XCX.

Lollapalooza’s official statement attributed the cancellation to “weather issues,” and NBC Chicago separately reported the cancellation was tied to the heavy rain and stormy conditions that swept the area throughout the day. Zara Larsson was moved up to fill the slot.

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The birthday release extends a run that has made Uzi one of the most commercially dominant hip-hop artists of their generation. They have topped the Billboard 200 three times — with Eternal Atake (2020), its deluxe reissue Lil Uzi Vert vs. the World 2 (2020) and Pink Tape (2023) — and scored a Hot 100 No. 1 as a featured artist on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” in 2017. Their own “XO Tour Llif3” reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and is certified diamond by the RIAA.

Maverick “Almost Forever” arrives as Lollapalooza 2026 continues through Aug. 2 at Grant Park, with Smashing Pumpkins, Mustard and Yungblud among the acts who performed Friday.

The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize has revealed its second-ever short list.

This year’s edition features songs by Angine de Poitrine, Charlotte Cornfield, PUP, Patrick Watson & Martha Wainwright and Charlotte Day Wilson, featuring Saya Gray.

In partnership with the performing rights organization Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), the winner of the Prize will receive $10,000 split between the song’s Canadian performers and the credited Canadian songwriter(s).

The recipient will be revealed alongside the Polaris Music Prize and the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize at the concert and award ceremony at Massey Hall on Sept. 22, hosted by musician and broadcaster Odario Williams.

Here is this year’s short list:

“Sometimes, a song is so powerful it stands on its own and demands to be heard, and the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize Short List honours five such unforgettable Canadian songs,” said Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN.

The short list selections were whittled down from a 20-song long list that included tracks from Begonia, Les Louanges, Aquakultre, Rochelle Jordan and more.

Of the five short-listed artists, two have secured their spot on the Polaris Music Prize album short list: Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. II, and Charlotte Cornfield’s Hurts Like Hell.

Since its inception, both the long list and the short list have been curated and voted on by a 205-person Canada-wide Polaris Music Prize jury, spanning music critics, academics, journalists and other relevant industry members. In its inaugural edition, the prize was awarded to Mustafa’s “Gaza is Calling.”

In an interview about the Polaris organization’s recent changes, executive director Amber Still told Billboard Canada that the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize was created to acknowledge “a whole new group of artists” who weren’t necessarily releasing full albums or bodies of work.

It’s the organization’s first new award since the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, introduced in 2015 to award albums released before the Polaris Music Prize launched in the mid 2000s. Past winners include Alanis Morrisette, Peaches and Beverly Glenn-Copeland — the latter two of whom are on this year’s Polaris Music Prize album short list, with their respective albums No Lube So Rude and Laughter In Summer.

Read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh

SOCAN Acquires Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA)

Two Canadian music rights organizations are coming together to bring the distribution of performance and mechanical royalties under one umbrella.

SOCAN is acquiring the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA).

The Canadian company dedicated to the administration of performance rights is set to purchase the CMRRA, which has handled the distribution of reproduction rights in Canada for over five decades. SOCAN has made an agreement for acquisition from current owner, neighbouring rights company SoundExchange. The CMRRA, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, was purchased by SoundExchange in 2017.

“Bringing CMRRA and SOCAN together is an investment in the future of Canadian music. United, we’ll strengthen rights administration for publishers, songwriters and composers.” Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN, tells Billboard Canada. “We’re grateful for SoundExchange’s leadership, and we’re excited to work with CMRRA to shape the next chapter of how music rights are supported and delivered.”

Both SOCAN and the CMRRA are key players in the licensing and rights distribution fields, helping to fairly distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties to their members. Last year, SOCAN reached an all-time revenue record of $587 million, distributing over $511 million to its rightsholders. Meanwhile, CMRRA distributed $94 million in royalties to its clients, celebrating its 50th anniversary while also welcoming 477 new client affiliations.

SOCAN CMO Cameron Kennedy and CMRRA president Paul Shaver both landed on the Billboard Canada Power Players 2026 list this year, earning their spot among the most powerful and influential executives in the Canadian music business.

The acquisition of CMRRA marks a major centralization of performance and reproduction rights under one umbrella, uniting two leaders in the broader rights handling sector. SOCAN has been dealing with CMRRA for nearly a decade, since acquiring the SODRAC in 2018 (Society for Reproduction Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers in Canada). SOCAN is now set to own the biggest handler of reproduction rights, adding to its own stewardship of public and performance rights.

“When SoundExchange acquired CMRRA nearly a decade ago, we saw an opportunity to strengthen its foundation, invest in its future, and enhance the services it provides to music publishers and songwriters,” says Michael Huppe, president and CEO of SoundExchange. “Together, SoundExchange and CMRRA have built a strong, innovative and thriving organization. We are proud of the progress achieved and believe SOCAN is the right organization to build on that success. This transaction benefits creators, publishers and the broader music community while allowing SoundExchange to continue advancing our core mission of delivering value to artists and rights owners around the world.”

Read more here. — Stefano Rebuli

Smashing Pumpkins turned their Lollapalooza headline set into a generational summit on Thursday (July 31), with Billy Corgan bringing out Olivia Rodrigo and Yungblud as surprise guests for a pair of nineties deep cuts in Chicago.

The set marked the Chicago-bred band’s first Lollapalooza headlining slot in 32 years — they last played the festival in 1994, during its original touring incarnation, on a bill alongside the Beastie Boys, A Tribe Called Quest and Green Day. Corgan, a lifelong Chicagoan, had spent the week leading up to the performance staging a hometown celebration dubbed “Pumpkinpalooza,” including a sold-out underplay show at the 2,500-capacity Riviera Theatre, a merch pop-up near Grant Park, and a roving version of Madame Zuzu’s, the teahouse he owns with wife Chloé Mendel.

Yungblud arrived first onstage, taking his spot less than an hour after his own festival set to sing “Luna,” the closing track from the band’s 1993 breakthrough Siamese Dream. The British rocker, dressed in black to match Corgan, handled the song’s soaring falsetto as Corgan backed him on guitar. “This is a f—ing dream come true,” Yungblud told the crowd.

Rodrigo followed, introduced by Corgan as “a very, very special guest.” She appeared in a sheer dress and knee-high stockings to sing “Thirty-Three,” the fifth single from the band’s 1995 double album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, with Corgan switching to acoustic guitar as the stage was bathed in red light.

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The pairings carried a certain lineage. Rodrigo has been open about the influence nineties alt-rock had on her sound, and both guests represent chart eras the Pumpkins helped make possible. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness remains the band’s commercial high point — it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 1995 with 246,500 first-week units, the only Pumpkins album ever to top the chart, and was certified diamond by the RIAA for sales exceeding 10 million.

Its singles ran deep: “1979” became the band’s biggest Hot 100 hit at No. 12 and their only No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, while “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” won the 1997 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. The album earned seven Grammy nominations in all. Siamese Dream, the source of “Luna,” has been certified four-times platinum.

Rodrigo, for her part, arrived as one of the defining pop breakouts of the decade. Her 2021 debut SOUR and its 2023 follow-up GUTS both entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1, and she has scored multiple Hot 100 chart-toppers, including “Drivers License,” “Good 4 U” and “Vampire.” Yungblud has been threading the same alternative lineage: he won his first Grammy earlier this year, for Best Rock Performance, for his rendition of “Changes” at Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell Black Sabbath concert, and his Aerosmith collaboration EP One More Time reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in November.

The guest spots capped a week of nineties nostalgia. At a Lollapalooza aftershow earlier in the run, the Pumpkins brought out actor Barry Williams — Greg from The Brady Bunch — to perform the sitcom’s Seventies novelty hit “It’s a Sunshine Day,” and reunited with former touring bassist Melissa Auf der Maur for “The Everlasting Gaze,” from 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God.

The band now turns to its most ambitious outing in years: The Rats in the Cage tour, launching Sept. 30 in Columbus, Ohio, built around a set marking the 30th anniversary of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness alongside a career-spanning second act.

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Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters continues to expand its growing lineup of collectibles with a new blind box featuring phone huggers. The CultureFly release is the latest mystery-box merchandise inspired by the breakout animated musical hit, joining previous collectibles, like instant noodle-themed blind boxes, Funko Pops! and keychain charms. Now, fans have another chance to test their luck with a new series of miniature accessories that display their favorite heroes (and rivals) on phones and other electronic devices.

KPop Demon Hunters has become one of Netflix’s biggest success stories, with its soundtrack dominating streaming charts and “Golden” winning an Oscar, not to mention HUNTR/X emerging as a genuine K-pop phenomenon. Momentum shows no signs of slowing down, especially as the fictional musical trio is set to embark on a global concert tour that will bring the movie’s music to live audiences.

The collection features all three members of HUNTR/X (Rumi, Zoey and Mira), the Saja Boys (Jinu, Romance, Mystery, Abby and Baby), plus the fan-favorite blue tiger, Derpy. Each figure is made from flexible silicone and is designed to grip the edge of a phone, tablet, computer monitor or other flat surface without leaving sticky residue when removed or repositioned. The figures are intended as decorative accessories rather than functional phone grips or stands.

Because this is a blind box, buyers can’t choose which character they receive, and duplicates are possible when purchasing multiple boxes, but that’s part of the fun of collecting them. My advice? Start a collection with friends and swap minifigures until everyone has each character.

Give yourself a more secure and comfortable grip on your phone when texting and taking photos, or watch videos hands-free. This MagSafe-compatible PopWallet holds up to three cards and can snap on or off your phone with ease. An adaptor ring is included to attach to your phone case for wireless charging. Also available in a magnetic PopGrip and an adhesive PopGrip. All three products feature a swappable top to change the artwork. The adhesive PopGrip attaches to most smooth, hard plastic phone cases but is not compatible with wireless charging.